Cutter-head



L. T. HENNEBERRY.

CUTTER HEAD.

APPLICATloN FILED Dic. 5, 1918.

1,372,949. Patented Mar. 29, 1921.

PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE T. HENNEBERRY, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,

CUTTER-HEAD.

Application filed December 5, 1918.

f! 1o all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LAWRENCE T. HEN-Nnnnnr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston,A in thecounty of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Cutter-Heads, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to cutter heads for use in making articles ofconfectionery, pastry and the like, and it has for its object to providean improved cutter head of this kind. i

Cutter heads of the class referred to are ordinarily incorporated inautomatic and other machines for cutting out articles such, for example,as lozenges, crackers and the like from a ribbon or sheet ofconfectionery or pastry dough, the latter being placed upon a table orbed arranged below a vertically movable cross-head carrying a pluralityof such cutter heads. In machines of this kind the cutter heads usuallycomprise a tubular cutting die of circular or other desired shape withinwhich is arranged a clearer `or ejector relatively movable with respectto the cutter and by means of which the article that is cut out of theribbon of dough is pushed from the cutterI when the latter is raised.

In one type of cutter head heretofore proposed, the clearer or ejectorconsists of a piston working back and forth within the tubular cuttingdie without directly engaging the cut out article but acting? to discharge the latter from the die by air pressure as the piston is forcedtoward the lower cutting edge of the die. Cutter heads of this kind havethe advantage that the ejer tor does not directly engage the cut outarticle, but they have heretoforebeen so con structed as to only cut outthe articles from the ribbon of dough and it 'was necessary tosubsequently operate upon each cut out'article if and whenit was desiredto emboss or otherwise operate upon the middle portion thereof as isgenerally the case in rn aking lozenges. Moreover,l the embossed orotherwise operated upon cut out articles were not of uniform orsymmetrical shape and were comparatively expensive to pro duce. The mainobject of my invention is Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 29, 1921.

Serial No. 265,349.

to provide an improved pneumatic cutter head which Will simultaneouslyemboss or otherwise operate upon the middle portion of the cut outarticle when the cutter head 1s lowered into engagementl with the ribbonof dough thus securing uniformity and symmetry of product and lesseningthe cost of manufacture.

To these ends my invention consists of a cutter head of the classdescribed having the novel features of construction and mode ofoperation set forth in the following de* scription and particularlypointed out and defined in the claims at the close thereof.

In the accompanying drawings:-

Figurel l is a central longitudinal sectional view of a4 cutter' headconstructed in accordance with my invention.

lFig. 2 is an elevation of the tubular piston of the cutter head shown,in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the cutter head of Fig. l.

Lil is a section on line 4r-4 of Fig."l.

Fig. 5 is a central longitudinal sectional view of another form ofcutter head embodying the invention.

Fig. 6 an end view of the head shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a section :ou line 7-7 of Fig. 5.

The cutter head shown in Figs. l, 2, 3 and 4 comprises an outer tubulardie `l herein shown as circular in cross-section, said die being rigidlysecured to a vertically reciprocated crossnhead 2 hy means of a nut 3screwed on to the upper exteriorly threaded end of said die. Thiscross-head is the die-carrying cross-head of the cutting machine inwhich the cutter head is incorporated, and has imparted to it a verticalreciprocatory movement to carry the cutter head into and out ofengagement with the ribbon of dough that is placed upon the table or bed(not shown) of the machinafsaid hed being located immedr ately below thecrosshead 2. j

`Within the outer die l is arranged an inner tubular cutting die 4Lhaving a cylinv drical exterior, the upper end of this inner die 4 beingrigidly fastened to the outer tubular cutting die l by screws 5. Theexterior diameter of inner die 4 is made less than the interior diameterof the outer ltubular end of a piston 6, Fig. 2, the tubular portion ofpiston 6 beingformed with two diametrically positioned.longitudinalslots Y7 within each of which is slidabl i arranoed a block 8. Thescrews` extend through these blocks 8 and fasten said blocks and theltwo dies firmly together, at the same time leaving the two dies and theblocks tree to slide longitudinally with relation to the piston.

The lower end off the piston 6 is made withan interiorlyV threadedcountersink 9 inte which Vis screwed a flanged nut 10 between which andthe end lof the piston is Vcompressed a ring of felt packing' 11 whichprovides a tight joint between the piston and the outer die 1. rlheinterior'otpiston 6 and of the nut 10 are made to snugly fit theexterior ot die 4 so as to provide a praeticallyair tight joint betweensaid die and said piston. i

ltwill thus'be clear that when the two dies are moved longitudinallywith relation to fthe piston7 airVY will be drawn into and be forced outof the 'lower end of die 1 as in the case Vot'a pump piston. fzTo theupper end of piston 6 isY secured one entlof aste'm 12 which isintendedto Vbe Vi'fvastened atr itsV upper end to another verticallyreciproczritedl cross-head forming part of thefmachine,Y but which, ifdesired, may

, be fastened to a stationary fixture.

IThe movements of this second cross-head are', as usualatimed oroccasioned so that the piston 'occupies a retracted position within thedie 1 when the latter is moved down into engagement with the ribbon ofdough and does not move toward the cutting-.edge ot said die until thelatter has been raised away from the' ribbon. During,V its movement to-Y ward'said cutting'edge, the piston 6 does not directly engage thecutout article which is within the lower end of die 1. but acts throughthe air within said die to expel the cut out'` article from said die 1so'that it drops free andV clear of the latter.

The inner die4 is Sharpened'at its lower end to cutra circular piece orsection trom the wafer or cut outarticle thereby forming va hole at theexact'center thereof. this hole 'forming' oper'ation occurring. as willVbe clear,V simultaneously. with the cutting out operationfl Within theinner die 4 is a second piston 13 VhavingV at'itslower end a tapped holeto receive' af screw *i 14 whose head clamps a packin'ering-l of felt'orthe like. against the end otstem V13 and expands said pack- .ringagainst the interior yof die 4. It will thus be Vclear that thefpiston13 moves relatively-to its tubular cuttingl die when piston -6 movesrelatively to its Vtubular cutting i die, andi that 'piston 13 will actthrough the air in front of it to discharge from the cutting` die 4, thedisk removed from the article at the same time that piston 6 acts inlike manner to discharge the cut out article irom the cutting` die l. isa matter ot fact, in practice Jthe disk cut out by inner cutter 4 willoppose the air pressure to less degree than the article cut out by outercutter 1 with the resultthat the disk will be ejected from its cutterbefore the article is ejected trom cutter 1.

Continued use of? the cutter head requires adjustment ci? the packing 11and for this reason the nut 10 is made at its outer end with twodiametrically disposed sockets 12% to receive the tanga ot a Spannerwrench by means of which said nut may be quickly and convenientlyadjusted to vard the. end ot the bof y of the piston to expand thepacking ring 11 as may be required through wear thereot. Likewise. thescrew 14 may be adjusted to expand packing; ring` 15 when necessarv.

tance slightly less than the thickness of the cut out article.

The interior parts of the cutter head are lubricated by any suitable.substance. Iflyecrin beine' that commonly employed. This lubricant alsoacts to seal the joints between both piston packingrs and the interiorsof their dies 1 and 4. as well as between the piston 6 and the exteriorof dic 4. thus closingr said joints against the passage therethrough otair.

llfhat l claim is:

1. cutter head of the character dcscribed comprising a tubular cutterinto the cutting end of which the cut out portion of the material isforced during' the cuttingr operation. and a longitudinally movablepiston snugly fitted within said tubular cuiier 'for pncuinaticallyexpellingsaid cut out portion from said tubular cutter withoutVcontacting with said cut out portion.

3. A cutter head of the character described comprising a tubular cutterinto which the ent ont portion of the material s forced during thecutting operation, and a piston snugly and movably fitted Within saidtubular enttel" for pneumateally expellnv n n a b sald ont out portlonfrom sald tubular entter after the cutting operation has been comple-ted and Without contacting with said out ont portion.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

LAWRENCE T. HENNEBERRY.

